Custom sender email
By default, the emails your customers receive (gallery invites, expiry
reminders, receipts) are sent from a Tobren address. With custom sender
email you can have them come from your own address instead — so a customer
sees mail from hello@yourstudio.com, not from us.
You’ll find this under Settings → Email, in the Custom Email Sender section. Only workspace admins can configure it.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- You need a verified custom domain first. Custom sender email builds on your own domain, so set that up before configuring SMTP — see Custom domains. Until the domain is verified, the section only explains this and has no fields to fill in.
- You’ll need SMTP details from your email provider (Google Workspace, Hostinger, SendGrid, Mailgun, your web host, etc.). Every provider publishes these in their help docs.
What you’ll enter
Section titled “What you’ll enter”| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| SMTP host | Your provider’s mail server name, e.g. smtp.yourprovider.com. It has to be a public server name — an IP address, or a name that points to a private network, isn’t accepted. |
| SMTP port | Use 587 (TLS) — supported by almost every provider. Use 465 (SSL) only if 587 is blocked. 2525 works for providers that offer it. Plain 25 is rarely correct. No other port is accepted. |
| SMTP username | Usually your full email address. Some providers (SendGrid, Mailgun) give you a separate username — check their SMTP docs. |
| SMTP password | The password or app-specific key for that account. It’s never shown back to you; leave it blank when editing to keep the current one. |
| Sender name | The display name customers see, e.g. Your Studio. |
| Sender email | The “from” address customers see, e.g. hello@yourstudio.com. |
The one gotcha: your sender address must be authorized
Section titled “The one gotcha: your sender address must be authorized”This is the single most common cause of a broken setup:
The sender email must be an address your SMTP account is actually allowed to send as. It has to be the account’s own address or an alias it owns, and your domain must be set up to authorize that mail (SPF/DKIM). If it isn’t, your provider will reject the message or route it to spam.
In practice: don’t put hello@yourstudio.com in Sender email unless the
SMTP account you logged in with is allowed to send as hello@yourstudio.com.
Many providers reject mail “from” an address that isn’t a real alias on that
mailbox.
Save and test
Section titled “Save and test”- Fill in the fields and click Save SMTP Config.
- Click Send Test Email — it sends a test message to your own account email.
- Check that it arrives in the inbox (not spam) and shows your name and address as the sender.
If the test fails, the message says which step went wrong: Tobren couldn’t connect (check the host and port), the sign-in was refused (check the username and password), the secure (TLS) connection couldn’t be set up (usually the wrong port), or the server timed out.
If the test lands in spam or bounces, it’s almost always the sender-address rule above — confirm the address is a real alias on the SMTP account and that your domain’s SPF/DKIM records are in place, then test again.
A green Configured label shows on the section once your settings are saved. It means they’re saved, not that mail is getting through — the test email is how you check that.
New accounts created through your email server
Section titled “New accounts created through your email server”Invite and sign-up links you send through your own server work exactly as before: the person opens the link, sets a password, and can use their account with your studio straight away.
Because those links pass through your server, Tobren doesn’t treat the address as confirmed yet. Until the person confirms it:
- the account works only with your studio;
- it can’t accept invitations from other studios, or sign in to them.
Such an account also can’t be used to create a studio of its own until it’s confirmed.
To confirm, the person uses Send confirmation email on their Invites page, or on the sign-in page of another studio. Tobren sends that email from its own address, not through your server. When they open the link, they choose a new password, and they’re signed out everywhere else. After that, the account works everywhere as usual. If the email reaches someone who didn’t ask for it, they can choose This wasn’t me: we stop sending confirmation emails for that account, it keeps working with your studio, and our support team is told.
Password reset links you send through your own server keep working as before too. If a reset link is what first gives someone a password, their account starts out the same way: it works with your studio until they confirm.
The one exception is a person who is already a customer or team member at another studio. Limiting their account to your studio would lock them out of the other one, so when they open an invitation or reset link from your server, we email them our own link to set their password instead. They use that link, sign in, and accept your invitation as usual.
Links sent from the default Tobren address are confirmed when they’re opened, as before.
Removing it
Section titled “Removing it”Click Remove Config to clear your SMTP settings. Customer emails go back to being sent from the default Tobren address — nothing else about your workspace changes.
Removing your custom domain clears these settings too, so if you move to a new domain you’ll enter them again afterwards.
What’s next
Section titled “What’s next”- Set up the domain this depends on → Custom domains
- Match the rest of your brand → Branding your workspace